OLYMPIC WINDOW: Opening ceremony has record ratings

As expected, the opening ceremony the of the Olympic Games in Peking had a record number of viewers. The spectacular program was viewed by almost 15 percent of world population. In China alone there were almost 1.4 billion viewers. The highest ratings ever for an opening were recorded in 2004 from Athens. That year, in the U.S., NBC did not broadcast the ceremony live because of the time difference, but it still drew 34.2 million viewers when it broadcast the ceremony 12 hours later in prime time, reported news wire SITA.